A Rare Turn By Columbo

Peter Falk's Rumpled Detective As Crafty As Ever.

October 8, 1998|By TOM JICHA TV/Radio Writer

Columbo has settled into a pattern in which the rumpled detective shows up less often than Santa Claus. Judging from the volume of queries from fans, his extended absences serve only to enhance anticipation for another visit.

After a hiatus of a year and a half, ABC is presenting a new Columbo installment, Ashes to Ashes, tonight. The lengthy delays are a product of a dynamic that has become practically non-existent in television - quality control. Peter Falk won't consider showing up on a sound stage until he is convinced that the script is up to his standards for Columbo. Oh, that there were more like him.

Whether it's the lack of practice or a product of the aging process, Falk as a performer has lost some of the zip on his fastball. However, like a crafty veteran pitcher, he is able to compensate with savvy and guile. Columbo is still wonderful entertainment.

A peerless foil is along for the latest ride. Patrick McGoohan, who has won a pair of Emmys for his thrusting and parrying with Lt. Columbo, is at it again. McGoohan plays a slick Beverly Hills mortician, Eric Prince. His funeral home has been the last stop for more stars than The Love Boat.

Eric's access to the bodies of the rich and famous affords him the opportunity to rifle through their residences for treasure stashes, as well as secrets of their private lives, which in some cases are worth more than precious stones.

Eric cannot resist helping himself to both. Jewelry he keeps for himself. Dirt he deals for a lucrative price to a viperish gossip columnist, Verity Chandler.

The alliance is a shaky one, however. When Verity - a brief but effective turn by Rue McClanahan - discovers that Eric has been helping himself to celebrity spoils, she threatens to expose him on her nationally syndicated TV show. Eric decides it's him or her. Given his narcissism, this is not a difficult call. Fortunately, his line of work provides a facile means of disposing of her body.

This creates a unique challenge for Columbo, whose intuition tells him that a missing-persons report on Verity is actually a homicide. He has to prove a murder has been committed without a body to seal the deal. No sweat: Working from a smear of lipstick, a hungry pet, a missing snapshot and a couple of initials, he unravels Eric's devious scheme and brings him to justice.

There used to be a joke that you know it's going to be a bad week when your secretary buzzes you on Monday morning with the news Mike Wallace and the 60 Minutes camera crew are here to see you." Columbo has its own variation. When the man in the frumpy trenchcoat assures you, Don't worry, I'll be out of your hair in a jiffy," you might as well put your hands behind your back for the cuffs.

As always with Columbo, the joy is not in solving the mystery, since there isn't one. The audience knows from the opening scene who did it and how. The fun is the process Columbo uses to catch up with the viewer. Nobody does it better.

Too bad there aren't enough proficient writers to enable him to do it more often.